The National Intellectual Property Center of Georgia Sakpatenti is a governmental agency – a legal entity of public law. In accordance with the Georgian legislation, Sakpatenti determines the policy in the field of intellectual property.
After gaining its independence, Georgia defined as one of its priorities the formation of a national system for intellectual property protection, which was reflected in the constitution and relevant legislative acts of the country. It is noteworthy that Georgia was the first of the former Soviet republics to create its national patent service “Sakpatenti” in 1992, which later on was transformed into the National Intellectual Property Center. In the course of time all the major fields of intellectual property were fully consolidated under Sakpatenti’s mandate: industrial property, copyright and related rights, new varieties of plants and breeds of animals.
Since its establishment and with the direct participation of Sakpatenti up to 30 laws, by-laws and numerous guidelines, regulating the legal mechanisms of accrual and enforcement of IP rights on different subject-matters were prepared and enacted. The current legislation is in full harmony with international standards, namely, it is in line with the requirements of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) administered by the World Trade Organization and is also compatible with the European Union legislation.
A major tool for protection of intellectual property rights outside Georgia is the full integration of the country into the global IP systems, which became a priority policy direction for Sakpatenti. At present Georgia is a member of all main conventions and agreements on intellectual property protection and is a party to a number of bilateral international treaties. Furthermore, Georgia actively participates in the work of international forums of various levels and at times acts as an initiator of a number of important proposals.
Sakpatenti has always accorded special attention to the protection of geographical indications of strategic products of Georgia, namely, wines and mineral waters, in foreign countries. For this purpose Georgia acceded to the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration, started bilateral negotiations on mutual recognition of geographical indications with the CIS countries and the European Union. At present an agreement is already enforced between Georgia and the EU. Moreover, Georgian GIs are already registered and protected in number of CIS countries.
On the basis of international cooperation Sakpatenti undertakes educational activities, and provides trainings to its staff and other stakeholders in the area of intellectual property, in partnership with the World Intellectual Property Organization, the European Patent Office and foreign patent offices.